Sweida governorate in southern Syria is facing a severe humanitarian crisis due to bloody clashes between armed Druze groups and Bedouin tribes, coinciding with an aggressive escalation by the Israeli occupation, which has led to the collapse of essential services and a total absence of basic living conditions for civilians.
The fighting, which erupted a few days ago, escalated into heavy-weapon confrontations causing extensive damage to infrastructure, particularly the electricity network. As a result, water pumps ceased functioning, leaving thousands of families without access to safe water.
The electricity outage has also paralysed bakeries and shops, which have been unable to operate amid ongoing insecurity, exacerbating the food crisis as flour supplies run out in local markets.
At the same time, healthcare facilities have come to a near standstill due to the power outage and the reluctance of medical staff to travel or work under dangerous conditions. This poses an imminent threat to public health, especially in the absence of any clear central support or response.
The situation in Sweida reflects a systematic collapse of minimum protections for civilians, whether due to the internal conflict or Israeli air raids targeting Syrian areas. Following the deaths of several government soldiers in clashes with armed Druze factions, a fragile ceasefire collapsed, allowing fighting to resume and spread into residential areas.
Under the pretext of “protecting the Druze”, Israel exploited the escalation of these internal events to launch wide-scale airstrikes across Syria, hitting four provinces simultaneously, including Damascus, where bombing targeted the General Staff headquarters and areas near the presidential palace.
These Israeli strikes ignored the principles of distinction between civilian and military targets, resulting in significant civilian casualties in blatant violation of international humanitarian law, which prohibits indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks.
Exploiting internal turmoil to carry out military strikes amounts to collective punishment, a policy contrary to the principles of the UN Charter and the Geneva Conventions. Israel continues not only to occupy Arab land and violate Syrian sovereignty but now uses domestic unrest as a pretext for unrestrained military expansion.
In the absence of legal protections and international oversight, civilians in Sweida find themselves caught between two deadly fronts: an internal armed conflict turning neighbourhoods into battlegrounds and brutal Israeli airstrikes on civilian sites under the guise of confronting “threats”.
The escalating violence without effective measures to protect civilians signals a profound erosion of international legal norms governing conflict in Syria and underscores the urgent need for a global mechanism to ensure accountability and humanitarian protection before Sweida becomes yet another model of total catastrophe.
